Statutory Sick Pay in 2026: The New Day-One Rules for Employers

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) changed more on 6 April 2026 than at any point in the last decade. The three unpaid "waiting days" have gone, the earnings threshold that kept many part-timers out has been scrapped, and lower earners now get 80% of their pay instead of a flat rate. For a small UK employer, that means sickness costs money from the first day, and payroll has to do a new calculation. This guide explains who qualifies in 2026, how to work out the right amount with examples in pounds, how fit notes and form SSP1 work, how to handle absences that link together, and which records to keep.

Quick answer

Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is paid from the first full day of sickness, to every employee regardless of earnings, at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings — whichever is lower. You pay it through payroll for the employee's normal working days, for up to 28 weeks, and you can't reclaim it from HMRC.

• No more three waiting days — a single day off sick can be paid

• The Lower Earnings Limit no longer applies, so low-paid and part-time staff now qualify

• Lower earners get 80% of average weekly earnings instead of the flat rate

• Standard daily rate for a five-day week: £24.65

• Fit notes can only be required after seven days in a row off sick

What changed on 6 April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 made three changes to SSP that took effect on 6 April 2026, alongside the new tax year rates.

Statutory Sick Pay before and after 6 April 2026

Rule	Until 5 April 2026	From 6 April 2026
First paid day	Fourth qualifying day — three waiting days unpaid	First full qualifying day
Shortest absence that counts	Four or more days in a row	One full day
Earnings test	Average earnings at least the Lower Earnings Limit (£125 a week)	None — every eligible employee
Weekly amount	Flat rate (£118.75 a week in 2025-26)	£123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Maximum	28 weeks	28 weeks (unchanged)

First paid day

Until 5 April 2026

Fourth qualifying day — three waiting days unpaid

From 6 April 2026

First full qualifying day

Shortest absence that counts

Until 5 April 2026

Four or more days in a row

From 6 April 2026

One full day

Earnings test

Until 5 April 2026

Average earnings at least the Lower Earnings Limit (£125 a week)

From 6 April 2026

None — every eligible employee

Weekly amount

Until 5 April 2026

Flat rate (£118.75 a week in 2025-26)

From 6 April 2026

£123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower

Maximum

Until 5 April 2026

28 weeks

From 6 April 2026

28 weeks (unchanged)

Waiting days removed. Under the old rules, a "period of incapacity for work" needed at least four days of sickness in a row, and SSP wasn't paid for the first three qualifying days. The Act removed both rules. A period of incapacity can now be a single day, and SSP is paid from the first qualifying day in it. That's the change most small businesses notice: the odd day off with a stomach bug is now paid.

Lower Earnings Limit removed. Previously, employees whose average weekly earnings were below the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance got nothing. Acas puts the number of low-paid employees who received no SSP at all at around 1.3 million. Now the earnings test is gone, so the Saturday-only shop assistant or the cleaner doing two evenings a week qualifies.

The 80% rule. To stop SSP being worth more than someone's normal pay, lower earners get 80% of their average weekly earnings if that's less than the flat rate. Anyone averaging more than about £154 a week gets the flat £123.25 a week, because 80% of their earnings would be higher.

The government expects the changes to put around £400 million a year of extra sick pay into workers' pockets. The flat rate will continue to be uprated each April in line with inflation (CPI).

Who qualifies for SSP

To qualify, a person must:

• be an employee with an employment contract — including agency workers, who usually get SSP from their agency or umbrella employer;
• have done some work under that contract;
• be sick for at least one full day — a period of incapacity for work;
• tell you they're sick within your time limit, and give proof of illness when you're entitled to ask for it.

There's no longer any minimum earnings or minimum length of service. A new starter who falls ill in their first week qualifies, as long as they've done some work. Employees with two jobs can get SSP from both employers, or from one job but not the other if only one is physically impossible while ill — a warehouse picker with a back injury may still be able to do an office job.

Some employees still don't qualify. They include people who have already had the maximum 28 weeks of SSP in a period of entitlement; those getting Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance; those off with a pregnancy-related illness in the four weeks before the week the baby is due; anyone in custody or on strike on the first day of sickness; employees working outside the UK for whom you're not liable for National Insurance; and those who received Employment and Support Allowance within 12 weeks of starting or returning to work for you.

If an employee doesn't qualify, you must send them form SSP1 within seven days of the first day off sick, so they can claim Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance instead. Self-employed people never get SSP; see the guide to Universal Credit for the self-employed.

How much SSP to pay

SSP is a weekly amount, paid only for qualifying days — normally the days the employee is contracted to work. A week for SSP purposes runs from Sunday to Saturday. You pay it on the normal payday, through payroll, with tax and National Insurance deducted like wages.

Working out SSP for an absence

1. 1

   Find the first full day of sickness

   If the employee worked for even a minute before going home ill, that day doesn't count. A night shift that runs past midnight is treated as one shift, so falling sick during it doesn't create an SSP day.

2. 2

   Work out average weekly earnings (AWE)

   Add up earnings paid in the relevant period — at least eight weeks ending with the last normal payday before the first day of sickness — and convert to a weekly figure.

3. 3

   Choose the weekly rate

   Pay the lower of £123.25 a week and 80% of AWE.

4. 4

   Convert to a daily rate

   Divide the weekly rate by the number of qualifying days in that week, then multiply by the qualifying days the employee is off sick.

   Open HMRC's SSP calculator
5. 5

   Pay and record it

   Pay on the normal payday and keep a record of the dates, rate and amount.

Average weekly earnings

Average weekly earnings include all earnings that attract Class 1 National Insurance, or would if they were high enough — so overtime, commission and bonuses paid in the period count. Earnings given up under a salary sacrifice don't. For weekly-paid staff, add the pay from the eight weekly paydays in the relevant period and divide by eight. For monthly-paid staff, add two months' pay, divide by two, multiply by 12 and divide by 52. Don't round the result.

New starters who haven't had eight weeks' pay yet are worked out on whatever they've been paid so far: divide by the number of weeks covered, or by the number of days and multiply by seven. If someone falls sick before their first payday, use the contractual rate for the job. Not having paid wages doesn't excuse you from paying SSP.

Worked examples in pounds

These use the 2026-27 rates. The names are illustrative.

1. Full-time, short absence. Ellie works Monday to Friday and earns £520 a week. She's off sick Monday to Wednesday. 80% of £520 is £416, so the flat £123.25 a week applies. Daily rate: £123.25 ÷ 5 = £24.65. SSP for three days: £73.95. Before April 2026 she would have received nothing, because the absence was too short.

2. Part-timer below the old limit. Kwame works two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday, earning £110 a week — below the old £125 a week limit. 80% of £110 is £88, which is lower than the flat rate, so his weekly SSP is £88. Daily rate: £88 ÷ 2 = £44. He's off for one Thursday: SSP is £44.

3. Variable hours. Sofia is monthly paid, and was paid £620 in May and £700 in June before falling sick in July. Her AWE is (£620 + £700) ÷ 2 × 12 ÷ 52 = £152.31. 80% of that is £121.85, just under the flat rate, so her weekly SSP is £121.85. She works four qualifying days a week, so the daily rate is about £30.46, and a two-week absence costs £243.69.

4. Long-term sickness. Mark, a full-time chef, is signed off with a fit note for six months. SSP at the flat rate for a full week is £123.25 a week, and the most you'd pay over 28 weeks is 28 × £123.25 = £3,451. If his illness is expected to outlast SSP, you must give him form SSP1 on or before the start of the 23rd week.

Notice, self-certification and fit notes

Employees must tell you they're sick within the time limit you set, or within seven days if you haven't set one. You can't insist they tell you in person or on a special form. If they're late without a good reason, you don't have to pay SSP for the days they were late. In HMRC's example, an employee off from Monday 2 June who tells you on Monday 9 June, two days after your five-day limit, gets SSP from 9 June — you can withhold the two late days only.

For the first seven days of sickness, employees self-certify. Many employers use HMRC's form SC2 or an equivalent return-to-work form. You can only ask for a fit note once the employee has been off for more than seven days in a row, counting weekends and non-working days. You can't withhold SSP because a fit note arrives late.

A fit note can be issued by a GP or hospital doctor, a registered nurse, an occupational therapist, a pharmacist or a physiotherapist, on paper or digitally. If you agree, the employee can give you other evidence instead, such as an Allied Health Professional Health and Work Report or a plan to support a return to work. Read what the fit note says: "may be fit for work" with suggested adjustments — fewer hours, lighter duties — is an invitation to talk about a phased return, not a requirement to keep the employee at home.

Linked absences and when SSP ends

Two periods of incapacity for work are linked if they are eight weeks (56 days) or less apart, and you treat them as one. Since April 2026, a single day of sickness can form a period of incapacity, so short absences link more easily than before. Linking matters for three reasons:

• the SSP rate is fixed at the start of the first period, so it stays the same through linked absences even if earnings change;
• the 28 weeks maximum runs across all the linked periods;
• entitlement ends altogether if a continuous chain of linked periods lasts more than three years.

SSP stops when the employee returns to work, when they reach the 28 weeks maximum, or when they stop qualifying for another reason. If SSP ends unexpectedly while they're still ill, send form SSP1 within seven days. If you can see it will run out before they recover, send SSP1 by the start of the 23rd week, or earlier if you know the absence will be longer than 28 weeks, so they can claim Employment and Support Allowance without a gap.

Key points in a long sickness absence

Day 1

SSP starts on the first full qualifying day off sick

Days 1–7

Employee self-certifies; no fit note can be required

Day 8 onwards

You can ask for a fit note or agreed alternative evidence

Start of week 23

Send form SSP1 if sickness is expected to outlast SSP

Week 28

SSP ends — 28 weeks is the maximum across linked periods

Absences that spanned 6 April 2026

If you're reviewing pay for a long absence, HMRC's transitional rules still matter:

• Employees already getting SSP before 6 April 2026 moved to the new rate from that date. If 80% of their earnings would have cut their SSP — those earning between £125 and about £154 a week — they stay on the flat rate until they return to work.
• Employees who had been excluded for earning below the Lower Earnings Limit became entitled from 6 April 2026 if their absence started on or after 22 September 2025, or if they returned to work at some point between then and 5 April 2026. Those continuously off since 21 September 2025 or earlier only qualify again after eight weeks back at work.
• Waiting days that fell before 6 April 2026 stay unpaid; waiting days that would have fallen on or after that date are now paid.

Company sick pay, holiday and other overlaps

SSP is the legal minimum. If your contracts promise company sick pay — full pay for a set number of weeks, for example — you pay that instead, and SSP counts towards it rather than being paid on top. Many contractual schemes copied the old three waiting days; check whether yours now pays less than SSP for the first days, because the statutory minimum always applies.

Holiday continues to build up while an employee is off sick, however long the absence, and employees can choose to take paid annual leave during sickness. You can't force them to take holiday instead of sick leave. A period of incapacity isn't broken by annual leave taken during it.

Agency workers, company directors and some education workers follow particular rules. For agency staff, the agency or umbrella company pays SSP — see the guide to employing agency staff. Directors with a contract of employment qualify from their own company like anyone else.

The cost for a small business

SSP can't be reclaimed: HMRC's 2026 to 2027 rates guidance states that employers cannot recover SSP, except where HMRC steps in after an employer becomes insolvent. So every day of sickness is now a direct cost. As a rough guide, a business with eight staff averaging four short sick days a year each, at the standard five-day rate, now pays about 32 × £24.65 = £788.80 in SSP that it wouldn't have paid under the waiting-day rules — before the cost of cover.

Plan for it in your staffing budget, and use the absence data you now have to spot patterns early. Clear return-to-work conversations and an up-to-date policy are cheaper than disputes.

SSP set-up checklist for 2026

0/7

• Payroll software updated for day-one SSP and the 80% calculation
• Sickness policy updated: no waiting days, notification deadline, how to self-certify
• Company sick pay terms checked so they never pay less than SSP
• Qualifying days agreed for every employee, including irregular-hours staff
• Managers trained to record the first day of sickness accurately
• SSP1 process in place: within 7 days if not eligible, by week 23 for long absences
• Absence and payment records kept with payroll records

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Records and disputes

You can choose how you record sickness absence, but HMRC may ask to see the records if there's a dispute about SSP. Keep the dates of each absence, the qualifying days, the average weekly earnings calculation, the amount paid, any fit notes or self-certification, and copies of SSP1 forms. SSP is part of payroll, so keep these with your PAYE records, which must be kept for at least three years from the end of the tax year they relate to.

If an employee thinks you've refused SSP wrongly or paid the wrong amount, they can ask you for written reasons and then go to HMRC's Statutory Payment Disputes Team, which can make a formal decision requiring you to pay. The Fair Work Agency, launched on 7 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act, brings employment rights enforcement together, and the government has said it will soon tackle employers who deny sick pay and holiday pay.

Official links

• Statutory Sick Pay: employer guideEligibility, notice, fit notes, SSP1
• Calculate Statutory Sick PayHMRC's online calculator
• Work out SSP manuallyAWE, linking and daily-rate examples
• Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027Weekly and daily SSP rates
• Absences spanning 6 April 2026Transitional rules
• Form SSP1When SSP isn't payable or ends

What to do next

Check that your payroll software is running the 2026-27 rules, then update your sickness policy and tell staff how to report absence. If you're about to take on your first employee, register as an employer and make sure you're also paying the right National Minimum Wage for each worker's age. The salary slip generator can show SSP as its own line on a payslip.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Statutory Sick Pay in 2026?

From 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, SSP is £123.25 a week or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. It's paid for the employee's normal working days (qualifying days) for up to 28 weeks. For someone who works five days a week on the standard rate, the daily amount is £24.65. Tax and National Insurance are deducted as normal.

Is Statutory Sick Pay paid from the first day of sickness now?

Yes. Since 6 April 2026 the three unpaid waiting days have gone. SSP is payable from the first full qualifying day of sickness, and a period of incapacity for work can be a single day. Any day on which the employee worked, even for a minute, before going home sick doesn't count as a sick day.

Do part-time and low-paid employees get SSP?

Yes, since 6 April 2026. The Lower Earnings Limit (£125 a week in 2025-26) no longer applies, so employees who earn less now qualify. They get 80% of their average weekly earnings, because that's lower than the flat rate. Someone averaging £100 a week gets £80 a week of SSP, divided across their qualifying days.

When can an employer ask for a fit note?

Only when the employee has been off sick for more than seven days in a row, counting non-working days. For the first seven days employees self-certify, and you can ask them to use form SC2 or your own form, but you can't insist they tell you in person. You can't withhold SSP just because a fit note arrives late.

Can small employers reclaim Statutory Sick Pay?

No. HMRC's 2026 to 2027 rates guidance states plainly that employers cannot recover SSP. The only exception is insolvency: if you become insolvent, HMRC pays SSP to employees who were sick at the time. Budget for SSP as a staff cost, alongside any company sick pay you offer.

Can self-employed people get Statutory Sick Pay?

No. SSP is only for employees, paid by their employer. Self-employed people who can't work because of illness may be able to claim new-style Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit instead. If you're a company director with an employment contract, you can qualify for SSP from your own company.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): employer guide — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.Work out your employee's Statutory Sick Pay manually — HMRC · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 — HMRC · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026 — HMRC · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Millions of workers get new access to sick pay and parental leave — Department for Business and Trade · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): eligibility — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.Rates and thresholds for employers 2025 to 2026 — HMRC · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.Statutory sick pay changes 2026 — Acas · accessed 9 October 2026
9. 9.Key changes to statutory sick pay under the Employment Rights Act 2025 — HCR Law · accessed 9 October 2026